Where To Start Organizing

"I just don't know where to start organizing."

As a professional organizer, I hear this very often. The sight of clutter becomes very overwhelming, especially if it keeps growing.

The following steps will help you decide where to start organizing and more. Enjoy!

Identify
The first thing you need to do is look around your home or office and identify the biggest problem areas. Do this by asking yourself questions like the following. If you need to write it down, print out this page and fill in the answers below the questions.

What area affects me the most?

What area slows down my morning routine the most?

What area costs me the most money by not being organized?

What area do I find the most frustrating?

Let's say you selected the kitchen as your biggest problem area. If you chose another space, simply apply the following steps to the room or area you decided on.


Analyze
The next step is to outline why your biggest problem area is your biggest problem area.

Is it a dumping ground?

Does it take too long to find items in this area?

Does this area have an actual purpose?

For example, if your problem area is the kitchen, you might identify that too many random items get dumped there because it is such a high traffic room.

Solve
Next, come up with a solution.

It is important to work with, rather than against, your natural habits. It is much easier and more effective to provide a solution that doesn't require changing a routine that works for you or committing to a new habit.

Let's continue with the above example. If the kitchen is the biggest problem area because it is a dumping ground for random items, then create homes for those items in the kitchen.

For instance, let's say your children do their homework in the kitchen, thus their backpacks end up littering the floor. Install some hooks underneath the counter or somewhere the children can reach and implement a rule that backpacks must be hung up.


Organize
Now that you've identified your biggest problem area, analyzed why it is so and come up with a solution, it's time to organize it (click link below).


Repeat
Once you've organized your biggest problem area, repeat the steps above to organize the next prioritized space.

Now that you've figured out where to start organizing, click here to read about the general organizing process!